


Build

by HotaruGFC (JaclynGFC)



Series: Snapshots: Inktober 2019 prompts [3]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, How Do I Tag, Inktober 2019, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-12-01 21:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20911514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaclynGFC/pseuds/HotaruGFC
Summary: Secre has dealt with idealistic young men for far too long. Yet somehow they always make her believe in their dreams and the future they want to build.





	Build

"Can you imagine it, Secre?"

"Imagine what, My Prince?" Secre Swallowtail always asked for clarification. She dared not to assume anything when it came to the young man she served. He had a way of surprising her.

Though today she had a feeling she knew what he was thinking about.

"The future. A place where people can live together in peace and harmony. Where it doesn't matter who they are or where they come from. Where the type of magic they use is welcomed--no matter how strange it might seem." 

Until that moment, she watched him gazing at the sky as they lay side-by-side on the tower rooftop. At that moment, however, he looked at her. His eyes were filled with stars, as they often were when he talked about his dream--dazzling and optimistic. 

At first, she had wondered if those dazzling eyes held more behind them, but over the years in which she had grown to know the Prince, she had discovered and learned to accept the single-tract nature of his mind. He would never look at her like that and only see her. The realization had pained her at first until she accepted her station. 

He was the crown prince of the kingdom.

She was his servant, given to him because no one else had wanted her.

Secre smiled. Seeing him happy had a way of cheering her up.

"I can see it, My Prince." 

And she could for he had described it to her in vivid detail nearly every day since she had come into his service.

"We can build it together." His gaze turned back to the white puffy clouds streaking across the blue sky. "I could never do it without you."

Secre watched the sky herself, sighing softly, knowing he did not mean how he sounded. 

"It's going to be beautiful. A bright and shining future for everyone."

"Of course."

They lay in silence for a moment before he sat upright in a jolt. 

"We should get to work then." He began to scramble down the room to where he could make the short drop onto the parapet and then enter his tower lab. Secre watched the sky a moment longer, only stirring when his head poked back up over the edge of the roof.

"You coming? I forgot I have a... thing later."

Secre pushed herself up to sitting and then crouched as she scurried from the roof at her Prince's command.

"What thing? I don't remember anything being on your schedule." She said as she landed on the narrow walkway beside him.

He shifted nervously before darting into the door.

"It's nothing. Just something personal."

He had been keeping more and more secrets from her as of late. She knew he was sneaking out of the palace along with his sister, but she did not know where they were going.   
She had thought about following him before, but she feared she would be assuming too much by doing so. 

Secre shook her head and followed him into the workshop. He was already tinkering away on some device or another when she joined him. He did not even look up as he asked her to fetch a tool. 

He may not have looked at her, but he did talk to her, waxing poetic once more about the future he wanted to build, or how he would change so much when he became king.  
Secre believed him, or more accurately, she believed in him. If anyone could bring about the future of which he dreamed, it would be her Prince.

A chime sounded and he looked up in shock.

"I'm going to be late." He stripped himself of his tools and protective gear and rushed out of the room, leaving Secre behind once again.

***

"But we can understand each other. When I am the Wizard King, that's the kind of kingdom I want to create--one where people can all get along and be happy, no matter where they're from, if they're commoners or nobles, elves, humans, even if they have no magic at all."

The words, spoken once more after so long, woke something inside of her, something long laid dormant. A spark of consciousness, of understanding, of remembrance.

And Secre--no, Nero--knew. She knew this boy might just have the power to do what he said, to build the future her Prince had long dreamt of and for which he had lost everything. 

Maybe.

Maybe he would be the one to build bridges over the gaps which separated so many.

Maybe he would be the light in the darkness leading toward the harmony her Prince had sought.

Maybe.

Maybe this time would be different.


End file.
